FY 2012 Budget Request to Congress

For 60 years, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has played a central role in innovation by catalyzing the development of fundamental ideas in science and engineering and supporting the people who generate them. As the only federal agency dedicated to the support of basic research and education across all fields of science and engineering, and in a time when economic and environmental challenges are becoming increasingly pressing, NSF is positioned to strategically stimulate innovative research that connects the science and engineering enterprise with potential economic, societal, and educational benefit. NSF's high-risk, potentially transformative investments will continue to lead the way for the important discoveries and cutting-edge technologies that will help keep our Nation globally competitive, prosperous, and secure.

NSF's FY 2012 Budget Request is $7.767 billion, an increase of $894.49 million (13 percent) over the 2010 Enacted level. In addition, NSF will receive $1.0 billion over five years for research on improving access to wireless broadband through the Wireless Innovation (WIN) Fund proposed under the Administration's Wireless Innovation and Infrastructure Initiative (WI3).

NSF's comprehensive and flexible support of meritorious projects with broad societal impacts enables the Foundation to identify and foster both fundamental and transformative discoveries within and among fields of inquiry. NSF has the latitude to support emerging fields, high-risk ideas, interdisciplinary collaborations, and research that pushes--and even transforms--the very frontiers of knowledge. In these ways, NSF's discoveries inspire the American public--and the world.